Written by Pastor Jack Wellman– Romans 6:23
It’s a Free Gift
A gift is a gift because it wasn’t earned. Imagine someone giving you a birthday gift and saying, “You earned this. You really worked hard at being born.” Of course not; that would be ridiculous. In the same way, God gives us the free gift of eternal life, not because we earned it. We couldn’t earn it in a billion lifetimes (Ephesians 2:9). It is only because God is good and pardons those who don’t deserve it that we are ever saved. This was only possible through God placing His wrath upon the sinless Jesus, Who didn’t deserve it.
It Cannot Be Earned
The Bible teaches that salvation is a gift that cannot be earned. It is freely given to all who believe (Ephesians 2:8). Before we were saved, God had already prepared good works ahead of time for us to do, and these works must always glorify Him or they’re not works at all (Ephesians 2:10). We aren’t saved by good works but saved to do good works. That’s great news because if we had to earn our salvation by works, when would we ever know we did enough? The truth is, we could never do enough good works to save ourselves; but thankfully Jesus’ perfect life is imputed on our behalf (2 Corinthians 5:21).
God’s Payment
The Apostle Peter reminds us that “you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot” (1 Peter 1:18-19). He owns you and me, just as the Apostle Paul wrote, “You were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body” (1 Corinthians 6:20). God paid for your life with His own blood in Jesus.
Our Duty
We have a duty to share the good news that salvation is a free gift from God and that it cannot ever be earned, so we need not even try. But since we’ve become the property of Jesus Christ, Who redeemed or ransomed us from God’s wrath, we should feel compelled to do what He commands us to do. We do know that He commands us to go and preach the Gospel to all nations, teaching them the very same thing that Jesus taught His disciples (Matthew 28:19-20). We might not be able to go into all the world, but we can go next door.
Conclusion
Many people have been saved by walking the Roman Road through verses like Romans 6:23, which says, “But the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord,” and other powerful verses that prove we can’t do anything good in ourselves (Romans 3:10-12) because none of us are good, our hearts are deceitful (Jeremiah 17:9), and we all fall far short of God’s infinite glory (Romans 3:23). That’s why grace is so amazing. He gives us what we don’t deserve (called grace) and doesn’t give us what we do deserve, like His wrath (called mercy).
